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WHEELING - The Wheeling Nailers have made it their New Year's resolution to catch more fish. They took a small step in that direction Thursday night at WesBanco Arena with a 3-2 victory against the first-place Toledo Walleye, who entered on an eight-game winning streak.

For the Nailers (17-15-2 - 36), it was their fourth straight victory and sixth in their last eight games as they moved within either two or three points of the top of the North Division, depending on the result of the Kalamazoo-Cincinnati game.

''That's the longest winning streak we've been able to put together so far this year,'' Wheeling coach Greg Puhalski said. ''It's especially good after Christmas because we haven't had very much practice time.''

What once was one of the best rivalries in the ECHL hasn't lived up to its past as the Walleye (17-11-4 - 38), formerly the Storm, have returned from hiatus. The Nailers have won all three games thus far in the season series, twice at home.

''I don't think there's any real reason for that,'' Puhalski said. ''They're playing a very good tempo right now and you can see why they were able to win eight in a row.

''They actually hadn't lost since we beat them (Dec. 9) at their place.''

Wheeling goaltender Michael-Lee Teslak was the obvious difference as he turned aside 30 of 32 shots to move his personal record above the .500 mark. Teslak made several sparkling saves, including three against Chris Robertson in a first period that was scoreless until the final minute.

''Unbelievable,'' said Wheeling's Chris Capraro, who scored a pair of goals including the game-winner. ''Without him there's no way we win.

''We're just trying to climb the mountain and get to the top.''

T.J. Fox, who scored twice in Wednesday night's victory in Reading, added his third in two days and 11th of the season off a nice feed from Colin Power who controlled the puck behind Toledo goaltender Jordan Pearce. Power saw Fox coming down the slot with a full head of steam and fed him the puck, which ended up in the lower, left-side of the net following a nice wrist shot.

''I thought we got off to kind of a slow start in the first period,'' Puhalski said.

The victory didn't come without a fight as the Walleye scored two straight to begin the second, with former Nailer Boomer Ewing having a hand in each. He assisted on Malcolm MacMillan's fourth, then added his fifth of the season with a wrister from the right circle on a power play.

But Wheeling jumped right back as newcomer Zack Sill won a battle for the puck and centered it to Capraro who went top shelf for his fourth to tie it 2-2 after two.

It remained that way until Sill headed the puck to Casey Pierro-Zabotel, who carried it into the Toledo zone and down the left side until he nearly passed up the goal. But just as he was about to, he fed it to Capraro on the other side, and he put it into the open net.

''It was a great play by Sill to get it out and then a great pass,'' Capraro said.

There were some tense moments at the end including a spectacular save with 5:55 left on Ewing, who lunged and hit the puck toward and open cage. But Teslak somehow recovered in time to make the save.

EMPTY-NETTERS

Former Buckeye Local and Iowa State wrestling standout David Bertolino honored before the game. He's currently training for what he hopes will be a berth on the 2012 U.S. Olympic roster. Coach Greg Puhalski will celebrate his 45th birthday today.

Toledo 0 2 0 - 2

Wheeling1 1 1 - 3

1st Period-1, Wheeling, Fox 11 (Power), 19:15. Penalties-Lord Whl (tripping), 2:49; Grant Whl (high-sticking), 5:43; MacMillan Tol (hooking), 8:31; Fox Whl (holding), 8:43; Robertson Tol (delay of game), 13:23; Schmidt Whl (delay of game), 19:41.

2nd Period-2, Toledo, MacMillan 4 (Ewing, Osman), 10:58. 3, Toledo, Ewing 5 (Hodgman, Smith), 15:07 (pp). 4, Wheeling, Capraro 4 (Sill, Pierro-Zabotel), 16:21. Penalties-Hodgman Tol (hooking), 1:57; Yaworski Whl (high-sticking), 13:17.

3rd Period-5, Wheeling, Capraro 5 (Pierro-Zabotel, Sill), 10:28. Penalties-Tremblay Tol (delay of game), 10:56; MacMillan Tol (fighting - major), 12:51; served by Beauregard Whl (bench - too many men), 12:51; Schmidt Whl (fighting - major), 12:51.

Shots on Goal-Toledo 8-12-12-32. Wheeling 8-12-13-33.

Power Play Opportunities-Toledo 1 of 6; Wheeling 0 of 4.

Goalies-Toledo, Pearce 8-7-1-0 (33 shots-30 saves). Wheeling, Teslak 7-6-1-1 (32 shots-30 saves).

A-3,002

Referee-Tim Mayer (11); Linesmen-Mike Hamilton (80), Ray King (39).